Inquest into three murdered Ottawa Valley women gets underway

By Bruce McIntyre

On December 6, 2017, Basil Borutski was sentenced to life imprisonment for the deaths of Nathalie Warmerdam, Anastasia Kuzyk and Carol Culleton.

Five and a half years later, a formal inquest began into the murders of these Ottawa Valley women at the Best Western Hotel in Pembroke.

Although scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m., it took nearly 70 minutes for technical issues to be resolved before the inquest began and the five-member community jury (three men, two women) were led into the meeting room where Leslie Reaume, the presiding officer and about 30 individuals were seated to begin the proceedings.

The thrust of the inquest, ordered under a discretionary order through the Ontario Chief Coroner’s Office, will explore the circumstances of their deaths, focusing on the dynamics of gender-based, intimate partner violence and femicide in rural communities.

In addition to understanding the circumstances of the deaths of Ms. Culleton, 66, Ms. Kuzyk 36-years-old, and Ms. Warmerdam, 48, the inquest will consider several important public policy issues directed at preventing future deaths and protecting victims of intimate partner violence in rural communities.

After decades of study on homicides resulting from domestic violence in Ontario, and after hundreds of recommendations to stop them have been filed, the individuals and organizations taking part in the inquest into the murders of three women around Renfrew County in 2015 remain optimistic that this time, the change they're looking for will come.

Among those most looking for change and a positive outcome from this inquest is Valerie Warmerdam, daughter of the late Nathalie Warmerdam and the first witness to address the inquest on Monday morning.

Her mother was the third murder victim on Borutski’s murderous rampage on the morning of September 22, 2015. Unlike her younger brother Adrian, who was present in the Cormac family home that morning, she requested and was granted official standing during the three-week inquest.

In order to be designated as a person with standing, the Chief Coroner’s Office reasoned she had a close personal connection to Ms. Warmerdam and therefore has a substantial and direct interest in the inquest.

In all, there are three parties of standing, which are End Violence Against Women Renfrew County (a coalition of organizations and stakeholders focused on intimate partner violence), Valerie Warmerdam (Nathalie Warmerdam's daughter), and the Ontario government. This designation allows the three members to question any witness that appears before the inquiry.

When she appeared on the stand, Warmerdam stated she was hopeful that after numerous inquiries into the issue of domestic violence, this inquest will actually implement some change.

“I hope we get good recommendations, I dream we get great ones,” she said.

However, the history or implementing recommendations to try and stop future tragedies like the ones committed by Borutski are few and far between. Despite previous existing safeguards to limit the actions of Borutski, each measure failed along the way.

Borutski was on probation with a lifetime weapons ban and did not attend any sessions during a 12-week partner abuse response program. He had been convicted of assaulting, attempting to choke Kuzyk the year before she was killed.

He killed the three women while on bail for choking one of them, after an Ontario Court justice and assistant Crown prosecutor had told court on the record that Borutski had little to no regard for court orders and wasn't getting help.

The actions and movements of Borutski on September 22, 2015 were retold by now retired Inspector Mark Zulinski, formerly of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and case manager for the prosecution during his 2017 trial. Zulinski spent nearly two hours on the stand outlining Borutski’s actions that day from the time he left his Palmer Rapids apartment around 7:30 a.m. carrying a bag containing a sawed-off shotgun on his way to Culleton’s cottage near Combermere.

He showed previous exhibits from his trial including photographs of the cottage, copies of a hand-written letter from him to Culleton expressing his desire to pursue a relationship with her, to the co-ax cable used to strangle her.

Zulinski proceeded to show evidence from the home of Kuzyk, located in Wilno and finally to the Cormac home of Warmerdam, located about 20 kilometres from Eganville.

Following his testimony, Reaume allowed for some questions of the witness on his interpretation of the OPP’s tactical response that day.  After a few questions, Reaume ended the line of questioning due to the fact his testimony was based on speculation and a future witness who was present that day was better qualified to answer those questions.

The proceedings ended just before 5 p.m. and will resume on June 7 with testimony expected from Pamela Cross, a domestic violence advocate who spent several weeks meeting with various women’s groups in Renfrew County in order to present a report on domestic violence in the largely rural and sparse county.

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